Round 17--Toyota Indy 400

All about Indy Racing League (IRL)

Moderators: Ed, mlittle

Who will win the Toyota Indy 400?

Poll ended at Tue Oct 18, 2005 12:36 pm

Dan Wheldon
1
50%
Sam Hornish, Jr.
0
No votes
Scott Sharp
0
No votes
Tomas Scheckter
0
No votes
Tony Kanaan
0
No votes
Danica Patrick
1
50%
none of the above
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 2

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 8:35 am

Sharp now on the clock......during practice earlier today, Sharp spun out but did not crash the car....First lap, 217.168 mph....Second lap coming up...217.261 mph, provisionally P6.

Top 5 at the moment, Scheckter, Hornish, Jr., Rice, Castroneves, Herta; next up, Tomas Enge(#2 Rockstar Energy Drink Dallara/Chevy).
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 8:38 am

Enge beginning his run....first lap, 217.013 mph, should put him the top-8 on the grid. Second lap, quicker at 217.143 mph, placing him in 7th at the moment. Next up, the second Rahal-Letterman driver, #17 Vitor Meira.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 8:40 am

Meira now on the clock.....first lap, 216.071 mph, currently 10th....second lap faster, a 216.585 mph, slots Meira in p8 on the grid. Next driver on the clock....#51 Alex Barron, for Red Bull/Cheever Racing.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 8:43 am

Barron now on his flyer.....first lap, 215.041 mph....second lap, 215.631 mph, Barron qualifies prov. P11. Next up...Dreyer & Reinbold driver #24 Roger Yasukawa....
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 8:46 am

Yasukawa on his flyer now.....214.394 mph. on lap 1, currently P14. Second lap now, 214.676 mph, slots into 14th. #27 Dario Franchitti next up on the grid...

Top 5 after 15 qualifiers....Scheckter, Hornish, Jr., Rice, Castroneves, and Herta.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 8:49 am

Franchitti now on the clock.....first lap speed, 219.398 mph, now takes provisional pole from Scheckter. Second lap, small bobble exiting turn 2, slower, but provisionally P1 now. Next up, series rookie of the year, #16 Danica Patrick.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 8:53 am

Patrick now on the clock...set the 6th fastest time on the combined practice charts, a 218.276 mph. First lap coming.....217.104 mph, second lap coming.....218.199, provisionally P4 on the grid. Next driver up, 2005 series champion #26 Dan Wheldon.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 8:57 am

Wheldon set to begin his flyer....many drivers here are "uneasy" about this track, due to the fact tha several of them were here in 1999 when CART driver Greg Moore was killed here in a racing accident. Wheldon's first lap coming up.....217.702 mph. Second lap, slower, so Wheldon slots into P7. Two drivers left on the line, Kosuke Matsuura, and Patrick Carpentier.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:00 am

Top 5 at the moment, Franchitti, Scheckter, Hornish, Jr., Patrick and Rice. Matsuura on his flyer, and a correction, there are three driver left on the line, Matsuura, Carpentier, and Kanaan. First lap for Matsurra, a 216.343 mph, so no change to the provisional top 5. Second lap, 217.037, Matsurra now sits in 11th. Second to last to qualify, #83 Patrick Carpentier.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:04 am

Carpentier begins his flyer...comes into this race with four consecutive top-10 finishes, dating back to Pikes Peak. First lap for the Quebecois native, a 215.704 mph, as he begins his second lap.....second lap, slower than the first, so he will slot into P15. Last up to qualify, the 2004 series champion, #11 Tony Kanaan.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:07 am

Kanaan the last to qualify for tomorrow's race....First lap, 216.872 mph, and it looks as though the Scotsman, Franchitti, will claim his first pole of the 2005 season. Second lap, 217.170 mph. And that concludes qualifying for the Toyota Indy 400, as #27 Dario Franchitti will start first for the race.

Top 5 on the qualifying chart:Franchitti, Scheckter, Hornish, Jr, Patrick, and Rice.

This concludes the qualifying session for the Toyota Indy 400. I'll have observations on today's news and qualifying later this evening.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Observations from the Inland Empire

Post by mlittle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 1:46 pm

You know, it's funny. Julian and Kapel are covering the F1 race at Shanghai, Bundy's somewhere along Hollywood and Vine and I'm stuck at Fontana. Oh, well, here's the Saturday obsevations......

1}That's $20,000 more to you, Mr. Hornish. With Dario Franchitti winning the pole for Sunday's race, Sam Hornish, Jr. became the 2005 Marlboro Pole Award winner for 2005. Although Hornish, with 3 poles, tied for the lead with fellow drivers Bryan Herta, Tomas Scheckter and Danica Patrick, Hornish, who currently sits in 3rd, wins by tiebreaker(highest pts. position). Franchitti, by winning the pole, became the eighth driver to win the pole for 2005.

2}Tough luck for Medieros. It appears that Thiago Medieros will have to wait until 2006 to make his series debut. During the second practice session, he spun his car out and crashed hard into the outside wall in turn 2, ending his weekend early. While he was cleared to drive by series medical officials, the car was too badly damaged to repair, and thus, there goes the weekend.

3}Honda commits for 3 more yrs. With the announcement from HPD boss Robert Clarke that Honda would remain an engine supplier with the IRL until 2009, the series will retain at least one of its' current engine suppliers. However, this still doesn't end the overlying problem...can they find another competitor for HPD after Toyota leaves in 2006. There is a "silver lining", though...at worst, the IRL will become a spec-engine series as ChampCar currently is. That's enough to give George and Co. mass headaches, though. :shock: :shock:

Well, there are 400 miles remaining in the 2005 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series season, the Toyota Indy 400. Will we see Dan Wheldon win his 7th race of the year, putting a definitive stamp on a record-setting season? Can Toyota or Chevy steal one from HPD? Or will we see a lady in victory lane tomorrow? The race is set for 3:30 PM, on ESPN, with domestic radio from the IMS Radio Network, webcast at indycar.com via the IMS Radio Network, and on XM Satellite Radio, XM Extreme Ch. 152.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Franchitti wins in Fontana

Post by mlittle » Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:01 am

For the first time in the history of open-wheel racing at the California Speedway, the polesitter would take the checkers as Andretti-Green Racing's Dario Franchitti would win the Toyota Indy 400 to conclude the 2005 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series season.

As the green flag fell, Franchitti(#27 ArcaEx Dallara/Honda) took the early lead only to lose it by lap 4 to the South African, Tomas Scheckter(#4 Pennzoil Dallara/Chevy), who became the dominant car for most of the race, hopin to give the "Bow-Tie" brigade a farewell win in the series. An early caution involving #14 A.J. Foyt, IV set the stage for a long, green flag run, as the cars settled in for the fight. By lap 50, after the first round of stops, it had become, once again, an Andretti-Green lead, with Tony Kanaan(#11 Team 7-11 Dallara/Honda) and Franchitti 1-2, followed by Sam Hornish, Jr.(#6 Marlboro/Team Penske Dallara/Toyota), Scheckter, and Scott Sharp(#8 Delphi Panoz/Honda). After a few laps, though, here came Scheckter once again to the front, and he would continue to lead through lap 75.

As the race approached halfway, several other drivers had made their way to the front , including the series champion, Dan Wheldon(#26 Jim Beam/Klein Tools Dallara/Honda), series rookie of the year Danica Patrick(#16 Argent/Pioneer Panoz/Honda) and Target/Ganassi's Jaques Lazier(#10 Target Panoz/Toyota). Once past halfway, things started to go astray for some of the frontrunners. First to fall victim was Scheckter, as a pitstop on lap 124 took about 20 seconds, an eternity in open-wheel racing, putting him a lap down; he would not a major factor from then on. Others, including Hornish and Scheckter's teammate, Tomas Enge(#2 Rockstar Energy Drink Dallara/Chevy) fell victim to pitlane speed violations; Hornish, after falling one lap down, would finish in the top-10.

By lap 150, the race had still remained under green and the racing was cut-and-dicing from front to back. In a sense, it reminds me of an old story somebody told me, about two scorpions placed in a bottle. Sooner or later, they'll lash at each other and take themselves out. The second caution of the day came at 170, when the car of Kosuke Matsurra(#55 Panasonic ARTA Panoz/Honda) spun in turn 4 and crashed into the pitlane entrance, slowing the cars down and setting up a late-race duel to the end. Unfortunately, not everyone made it to the end, though. Remember the "two scorpions"? Well, as the cars made their way around on lap 185, the cars of Jaques Lazier and Danica Patrick touched wheels and crashed hard into the turn 4 wall; both drivers were unhurt. From the camera angles, it looked as though Lazier, who had been, in the words of both Patrick and race engineer Ray Leto, "all over the place", tried to "spook" Patrick into letting off the throttle and instead, took both of them out. Of course, to hear Chip Ganassi and Lazier talk about it, you'd think it was her fault. Sorry, guys; she had the right of way in 4.

Back at the front, the cars of Franchitti and Kanaan took off on the fianl restart of the year, on lap 191 and checked out on the field. At the white flag, Kanaan had a hairs' breath lead on Franchitti, but as they came off of 4, Dario had just enough power to push ahead of his teammate and take his second win of the season, the 11th for AGR this year. Kanaan would finish second, while Rahal-Letterman's Vitor Meira(#17 Johns Manville/Menards Panoz/Honda) whose future with RLR is unclear at the moment, took the final podium spot. The rest of the top-10 went as follows:4-Sharp, 5-Hornish, Jr, 6-Wheldon, 7-Scheckter, 8-Enge, 9-Castroneves, and 10-Dixon.

I'll have observations on the race later this evening, with commentaries on the 2005 season throughout the month of October.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

mlittle
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 11205
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:51 pm
Location: At the F1 Idiots Bar.............where else?
Contact:

Sunday Observations from the Inland Empire

Post by mlittle » Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:14 am

You know, if Ryan Briscoe saw today's IndyCar race from Fontana, he's probably still laughing his a-- off concerning the actions of a certain competitor. :wha: I'll explain it in the observations...

1}Did we see a Schumacher from Kanaan today? Back at the USGP in 2002, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher "gifted" a victory to then-teammate Rubens Barrichello. Flash forward to today's race, when, if you heard the in-car audio from Tony Kanaan's car, it sounded as though, right at the checkers, he lifted from the throttle just enough to give teammate Dario Franchitti the win. Say it ain't so, TK. If that was the case, it was a sad way to honor the late Greg Moore, who Franchitti dedicated the win to.

2}Jaques's black eye. It was bad enough that he tried to "pinch" fellow racer Danica Patrick on-track and ended up crashing both of them out of the race, but it got worse. As the two rode to the infield care center, according to Speed's Robin Miller, Danica decided to give Lazier a piece of her mind; notably, a roundhouse punch to the face. I get the feeling that she's going to be getting a ticket from series officials which will probably include remittances for a small "fine".....although, personally, I think Jaques deserved it.

3}It's official. Also heard during the broadcast, Team Cheever owner Eddie Cheever glumly told ESPN pit reporter Jamie Little(no relation to this scribe!) that Red Bull would, indeed, be pulling its' sponsorship of the team for 2006. What happens to the team will be an intense silly-season topic in the offseason.

4)This win's for you, Greg! Six years ago, at the CART season finale, Forsythe's Greg Moore lost his life in one of the most violent wrecks I've ever witnessed, and it was fitting that his closest friend at the time, Dario Franchitti, won.(Even if TK "lifted" off the throttle!)All of us who saw the race back in 1999 shed tears at the loss of a future legend, and it was only apporpriate that Franchitti was talking about his friend Greg, the skies, which were cloudy all day, opened up and poured out the rain.

5}It's over!!! 17 races ago, the series began its' 10th season in sunny Florida, and today the season ends with a 400-miler in SoCal-country. All I can say is....what a h--- of a season there was.
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

Julian Mayo
Forum Hall of Fame
Forum Hall of Fame
Posts: 15661
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:07 am
Location: Tying the antenna to the tallest tree I can find.

Post by Julian Mayo » Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:11 pm

Sounds like Danica is making her mark in more ways than one !! Go Girl :lol:
The Mountain is a savage Mistress.

Post Reply